Peter Obi, the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) has said President Muhammadu Buhari is not the one piloting
the affairs of the nation.
The former Anambra governor made the
claim in Lagos on Saturday while accessing the proposed 2019 budget
present to the national assembly by the president.
“We need to
know where we are going as a nation but with Buhari at the helms of
affairs, we do not know where we are going. Buhari is not in charge of
this government as he does not know or care what the poor people are
going through,” Obi said.
Several stakeholders including the wife
of the president, Aisha Buhari, has repeatedly claimed the president is
not in charge of his government.
Mrs Buhari in her latest claim said two men which she refused to name were in control of her husband’s administration.
For the former governor, the economic blueprint of the current administration does not tackle the shortcomings of Nigerians.
He
said should Buhari who seeks a second term in office be re-elected, the
economy of the country will keep on bleeding to the worst.
“Nigeria
will not survive if Buhari goes ahead with plans to tax poor Nigerians,
in line with provisions of the proposed budget which is largely focused
on debt servicing.
“Nigerians are currently the poorest people
on earth, yet the Muhammadu Buhari administration of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) is still looking at taxing them the more.
“Take
look at the budget presented by the President a few days ago and you
will see that it does not give anyone hope instead, it tells us that we
are still where we have always been.
“A quarter of the budget is
meant to service debts, and that is about 60% of the budget while the
President keeps telling Nigerians to tighten their belts because of the
harsh times staring at us in the future.
“Does that give anyone
confidence in this government? Not at all, I dare say. While presenting
the budget, he said that the government is looking for ways to tax
Nigerians the more. What are you taxing the poor people for?
“Does
that give any one of us hope in this government? That means that if we
keep them for the next four years, we are finished,” the former governor
said.
He said if the PDP is given a chance to govern at the
national level, the focus will be placed on reviving small and medium
enterprises (SMEs).
Obi said Atiku Abubakar, the presidential
candidate of the opposition party if elected, intends to restore
investor confidence and improve ease of doing business in the country to
stimulate economic growth.
“We know the situation looks gloomy
but we are not scared of going in to salvage the country. The situation
with Nigeria is like an accident victim. The first thing to do in such a
situation is to stop the bleeding first by applying first aid before
the real treatment,” he said.
“Unless the right steps are taken to stop the bleeding, we will still be where we have been for years.
“It’s
going to be difficult but we know where we are going and what we are
going to do. To put the Nigerian economy back on a sound footing, we
have to take a holistic look at SMEs because only then will you rescue
the dwindling economy.
“We need to change the way we do things in
this country if we ever hope to come out of this economic quagmire we
have found ourselves in. We must change the way we do things in this
country or we will continue to grope in the dark.”
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